Contemporary reviews of vintage novels

1934 bestsellers slated for review

The bestseller list of 1934 contains few familiar titles—Good-bye, Mr. Chips is the most recognizable. The novelists on the list, however, were some of the most popular and prolific writers of their day. A glance over the verso of the title page of Phillip Bottom’s Private Worlds shows she was certainly a working author.

Chips‘ author James Hilton churned out several silly novels like Lost Horizon and Random Harvest that were huge sellers and became movie classics. He also wrote less financially successful but far better novels such as Time and Again and We Are Not Alone.

Here’s the list, with dates I’ll publish my reviews given in square brackets:

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